


My Girl

by tealitful



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 12:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12817989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tealitful/pseuds/tealitful
Summary: In which all American boy Luke loves country music.





	My Girl

_Man her eyes really drive me crazy_

Luke would not –  _could no_ t – stop staring as Penelope walked slowly made her way to the front of the conference room. Where some colorful, chunky heels normally adorned her feet were bright pink socks, but this wasn't why he was staring.

She tried to keep her hands by her side, but her leg bumped the leg of a chair she hadn't quite seen, and her hands flew out as if to catch her fall. When she realized she was still standing, she'd pulled at the hem of skirt as if straightening it and then continued to the screen. This wasn't why he was staring either.

"I'm afraid to say we've got an ugly one – not that any of them are ever not ugly, but, well, you know what I mean..." Penelope said. As she laid out the details of the case, she looked around the table at the faces of the team but never made any solid eye contact. When she filtered through the photos of the victims her cringe was less pronounced. This was a little bit closer to why he was staring.

When everyone else had filtered out the room, he crossed the room and grabbed at her things.

"Excuse you, Lucas, I know you did not just put your unworthy hands on my very expensive laptop. What do you think you're doing?" She said, and Luke couldn't tell if the wrinkles above the bridge of her nose were from frustration, her inability to see clearly, or her frustration at her inability to see clearly.

He didn't relinquish her things, but instead drew her hand into the crook of his elbow. "If your laptop is so expensive I imagine you wont want it broken after you take a tumble over a table."

She huffed, but let him lead her anyways. "I can still see, Alvez. I can make out shapes and colors. Everything just blurs after a certain distance. That's the crux, really; I'm so near sighted, you'd practically have to kiss me for me to make out any details of your face."

He set her things down on her desk and moved closer to her, bending further than he did in his fantasies on account of her still bear feat, and let the tip of his nose touch hers. "Is that so?"

Her big, brown eyes practically bugged out of her eyes and Luke straightened, giving her room to breath. He took a few steps backwards towards the door before saying, when he was sure he was far enough away that she wouldn't make out his blush, "You better be more careful with your glasses, Garcia. Those eyes are dangerous."

_You should see her smile when she holds a baby_

Luke was babysitting his niece when he got the text for another another case. His sister had left the year old baby in his care for the weekend so that she could be with her husband at the hospital they'd sent him. It was his first round of the experimental treatment, and she wanted to be there to support him. Luke turned the phone over in his hands while he thought. Once. Twice. He shot a text to his sister and then clipped Norma into the carseat he'd struggled to install. He could listen to the case and profile from the office like he'd known JJ and Reid to do in the past.

He threw his go-bag onto his desk, then the diaper bag. Not wanting to maneuver the stroller into the conference room, he pulled Norma – contentedly sucking on her own fist – into his arms and walked into the conference room. The team members that were already gathered went quiet for a moment.

Before anyone could say anything, Garcia burst into the room with her hair curled, lipstick red, heels high, and glasses  _firmly_  in place. She looked up from her laptop and stack of papers when she realized the normal chattering team was silent. She looked around for a second before settling her gaze on the same object of interest as the others. The threw her laptop and papers with reckless abandon onto the round table. "What… in the world?" Her voice was one of awe. "That is the cutest little angel I have ever seen in my entire life."

JJ laughed. "You say that about every baby you see. I remember when Henry was the cutest little angel you had ever seen. And the Michael. And then Hank."

Penelope waved her hand at JJ to shush her, but did not look away from the baby. Instead she made funny faces while asking, "Who is this precious bundle?"

Luke cleared his throat and explained the situation with his sister. "So I was hoping I could stay back this time and call to give input."

"If you need to take off this case," Prentiss started, but Luke put his free hand up to stop her.

"If you want me to officially take off, I will, but I'll sit my butt right next to Garcia and listen in on all her phone calls and make her tell you what I think."

Penelope's head shot up at this. "Please, don't make him take off. I can't handle that mouth breather reading over my shoulder."

"Even if it meant you got to hold on to that baby all day?" Reid ask, nudging Penelope into a kinder notion of the idea. Whether Luke took off or not, he would still be staying with her to work on the case.

Garcia pouted her lips and looked from the baby to Luke then back to the baby. With a sigh, she stretched out her arms. Luke furrowed his brow. "Don't you have to present the case?"

She looked at him as if he were the biggest dunce in the world. "I face away from the horrible bloody messes while you face towards them. It would be smarter for me to hold her so she doesn't see."

Luke relents, deciding it was best not to mention that he could simply hold the baby to face the opposite direction. Penelope smiled as the baby settled into her ready arms, and Luke smiled when the baby's chubby fingers pulled the frames from Penelope's face.

_I can honestly say that she saved me_

Luke had never been in Penelope's apartment before – well, he had once, but the whole team had been there. Without the hectic atmosphere that several tipsy colleagues produced, he had the opportunity to take in her private space, knick-knacks and all.

"The couch pulls out, so if we shove that coffee table out of the way, you can sleep there," she said, bouncing Norma on her hip. "You can squeeze the pop up crib there, by the window. Just make sure the blinds are shut."

"Naked Tai Chi Guy?"

Penelope sighed. "Ding ding ding! For guessing correctly, you win – drum roll please – a lifetime of trauma!"

Luke chuckled. "Why don't we just go to my place? There's a little more room, I can pick up Roxy from the dog sitter, and I wont have to worry about accidentally stepping on your… trinkets."

Penelope turned to look at him it was with the look of a kindergarten teacher thinking of the best way to explain something to a child who can't stop asking 'why?'

"My internet is faster, and if the team needs me tonight, I need to be able to access my databases as quickly as possible."

Luke shifted his weight to his other foot and put his hands on his hips. "What makes you think my internet isn't fast? I bought the fastest plan they offered!"

Another dramatic sigh. "Oh, Luke, Luke, Luke – you beautifully ignorant man – that just proves it."

Luke fought a smile and lost. "Well, can't you work your magic and presto, bango my internet faster?"

Norma, who had been staring at Penelope's face, turned to her uncle and attempted to adopt an exasperated expression.

Luke and Penelope stared at the little girl and then at each other before breaking out into laughter. Norma, not understanding why they were laughing but seeing no reason why she couldn't join them, let out a robust giggle so sincere that it began a new wave of laughter in the adults.

When they controlled themselves, Luke started his questions again. "How often do we really ask you for help in the middle of the night, Garcia?"

She pointed a finely manicured finger in his face but relented. "Fine. We can go to your place, but  _only_  because of how rare it is for the team to wake me up, and  _only_  because I want to see Roxy."

She turned on her heel and set Norma on a soft, faux fur blanket while she packed a "go-bag" of her own.

Luke's place was decidedly way nicer than Penelope had expected – it looked as if it'd been pulled from a modern homes magazine. It was nice, yes, but it was cold. It, like the magazine photographs, didn't feel lived in.

Penelope dropped her bag on the kitchen island and looked at Luke accusingly.

He leaned lightly on the pack and play he'd just popped open. "What now, Penelope?"

Garcia's eyebrows shot up at his use of her first name, but she would not be deterred. "How long have you worked at the BAU?"

"I don't know; a year and half, maybe? Two years?"

It would be two years in a month, but he didn't need to know she knew that. "And your house looks like this, why?"

He looked around, confusion etched in the lines of his face. "I don't know what you mean. All my stuff is unpacked, and everyone on the team knows I like to live with what is necessary and nothing more."

"Yeah but," Penelope said as she threw a blanket on the floor and set Norma down, "you aren't tracking down bad guys every waking moment any more. You could probably benefit by putting down some roots. Maybe put up a picture of your family somewhere?"

"Roots, huh? Well I don't really see the point in putting down roots when the only one I'm coming home to is Roxy, and she doesn't care about decorations."

Penelope sighed. "You're not just coming home to Roxy. You're – you and the team – you all come home to me, and I would sleep better at night if I knew you weren't living in a Better Homes magazine."

Luke laughed. "I appreciate your concern, Garcia, but I just don't see the point. Unless you've suddenly decided to move in, I can't imagine anyone will be here often enough to complain about it."

"Oh!"

"What?"

"That's it!" Penelope said as she lunged for the laptop she'd left in the kitchen.

"What's it? What's what?"

Penelope looked at all the apartment and townhome listings she'd had open on her laptop. He hadn't technically offered, but would he really be opposed to it? Maybe. She wasn't always the nicest to him, but whenever she was around him she felt like a little boy pulling the pigtails of the girl he liked.

She clicked through each listing once more, confirming she did not like any of them, and then exited out of the browsing window and shut her laptop. "I'm moving in here is it and what. Thanks for offering."

"I offered?"

"You did, and thank goodness too, because I have plenty of stuff to mark this place as lived in," she said as she turned slowly, imagining all her things littering the empty spaces.

Luke tried to think of something to say. He liked Penelope – he  _loved_  Penelope – but to live with her? How could he make any headway with her when she was living with him? She would see him at his worst before she ever saw him at his best.

Still, he let his thoughts be swayed with the thought of her things everywhere. Driving her to work. Driving home together after a case. Her welcoming him home after a run. Maybe, with time, a baby awkwardly lunging on hands and knees in her first awkward attempts to crawl, like Norma was doing at that moment.

His first real home since he left with the army.

No need to pickup and leave for months on end.

Rather than object, he sat with Norma on the floor while Penelope walked around the house, occasionally returning to the living room to inform him of where she planned to put what and why.

He nodded without listening.

He would let her paint the house pink if she would make it a home.

_My girl_

"What in the world are you two squabbling about so late at night?" JJ asked from her perch on the corner of Reid's desk.

Luke grinned and swung his (newly bedazzled) go-bag onto his shoulder. "Pen was just complimenting my taste in music."

Garcia let out a choked sound of astonishment. "No, I believe was telling you that, should you be so unwise as to play that awful music with me in the car again, I might just use my amazing techno wizard skills to make sure you can't listen to in that car ever again."

"It's country music, Pen, not that awful screaming crap."

Penelope sighed, "It might as well be for all I care for it."

"You know, historically country music is-" Reid stopped when he noticed the weary eyes of his coworkers turn to him, and decided it might not be best to lecture so soon after finishing a case, "um, it's patriotic. Very hardworking-American."

Luke let a lazy smile slowly creep up his face. "See, Pen, I'm patriotic."

She glared at him and turned to get on the elevator, Luke following on her heel. "No, Alvez. I will not spend the half hour drive home listening to that crap."

"Fine then," he said, stepping out of the elevator and into the parking garage. "One song? Then you can put on your old-timey music."

She pulled herself into Luke's truck (which she'd drove to work that morning in the hopes that the case would be finished that night and Luke could drive her home). Luke closed her door for her and then hopped into the driver's seat. He looked at her with a hopeful glean in his eyes.

She gave up. "One song."

Luke fumbled with his phone and put on the song he'd listened to the whole plane ride home.

Penelope tried to ignore the music, but she couldn't help but listen to Luke sing along in his perfectly off-pitch voice. He grabbed her hand and let his thumb draw circles on its back.

_Yeah, that's my girl_   
_In my truck, in the songs that I sing with the radio up_   
_My girl_   
_In my heart, in my soul and the air that I breathe every day_   
_That's my girl_   
_Yeah, everything_   
_My girl_


End file.
